[T]here is only one member of Congress who has gone on record as nonreligious: Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., was the only one to answer "none" when a 2013 Pew Research poll asked members of Congress about their religion. Sinema's office declined requests for an interview for this article. "When she first got elected, everybody in our movement was very enthusiastic," said Bishop McNeill, coordinator for a new secular political action committee. "But unfortunately ... she has gotten some advice to stray away from that label."

A federal Judge rules that the big-ass cross on Mt. Soledad has to come down. As a result, Jesus weeps, <insert local sports franchise here> loses the big game, and Christmas is cancelled.

Somebody someplace, I forget who it was, might have been an elected official, I forget, said ‘Oh, it causes autism’…It is just literally not true. I can tell what you what does kill kids is no flu shot.

Sarah Posner lends sanity to the new absurd claim that religion is in danger of becoming "illegal":

It serves the interests of the religious freedom panic squad to portray a danger of squelching their religious beliefs, and pretend the government is against them solely because of what they believe, not because of what they do. It almost makes you forget other people are involved.

For now, as you may have noticed, I'm not covering whether Santa or Jesus was white, or how angry people are at atheist billboards. You'll find all the stuff about that you want without my help. And I just don't have it in me, guys.

I would pray for something I wanted, and I would pray if I was scared, because it was a reflex. It was something I had learned, and it made me feel better. I think what that is when we do that is, we’re praying to ourselves — to our better selves. Some call it a higher self. I think the universe is all of us, and when we externalize this thing and call it God, it’s really a way of projecting ourselves onto another identity — onto our better, higher selves that pretty much know everything they need to know, and everything that’s good. So I think praying is all about finding that part of yourself. They call it God. It’s easier to organize people politically, and get them to believe a lot of other things, if you have them believing in an invisible man.

* * *

*I estimate perhaps two or three of you might have gotten that.

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.